As Samsung's current flagship devices, Galaxy S8 and S8+, continue to rake in more sales, rumors have begun to surface regarding the company's next batch of premium smartphones.
While the previous flagship iteration was highly-praised by the public, there are still more ways for the Samsung Galaxy S9 to boast more improvements. It is rumored that the Galaxy S9 will find a more convenient spot for the fingerprint reader, while the RAM capacity will be bumped to 6GB.
As reported by Value Walk, Samsung is finding the perfect location to transfer the fingerprint reader. One of the negative feedbacks for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones came from the odd placement of the fingerprint scanner, which is currently situated at the rear panel of the device. This was done to give way for the new Infinite Display feature, sporting an all-screen display with curved edges.
At first, it was believed that Samsung will fix the problem by introducing a new in-display fingerprint scanner, which is embedded right into the screen. However, it appears that the South Korean tech giant is not yet ready to apply such in-display technology to the Samsung Galaxy S9. As predicted by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, this optical fingerprint reader will only be developed by the second half of 2018, possibly appearing in the Galaxy Note 9.
Further supporting the rumored return of the fingerprint reader to the front panel is the recently approved patent filed by Samsung to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPRIS), SamMobile reported. The patent was originally filed by the company in April 2016, titled "Cryptic Display Apparatus and Method of Manufacturing Display Apparatus." It is not yet known how the fingerprint scanner on the front display will affect Samsung's Infinite Display signature. Nevertheless, this will solve the users' issue on accessing the biometric reader at the back.
Meanwhile, other rumors on the Galaxy S9 hardware specs suggest that Samsung will nudge the memory capacity up a bit. It is now expected that the high-end memory variant of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will receive 6GB RAM. Meanwhile, both devices will keep a standard 128GB internal storage, while the memory can be expanded with the use of microSD card. The highest internal storage option is rumored to be 256GB.
Like their predecessors, the Samsung Galaxy S9 will sport a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display while the S9+ will have a wider 6.2-inch display. There are still no confirmed reports regarding the release date of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, although they are expected to arrive in early 2018.
